2nd year Disaster Management Student, Ben, visited Tanzania

Within five days of leaving the UK, I was at the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro: the highest point in Africa. It was the hardest five day struggle in my life, but worth it for the experience and the £1000 that I raised for the people I met on the trip.

After heading back down the mountain to a little village called Nure’ - one of the villages in Tanzania that the charity we sponsored supports - we arrived to the most amazing welcome where women lined the streets waving palm leaves and singing. That was just the beginning of experiencing life in Africa.

Some of the things we did included:

• Helping farm the land, ploughing using old style techniques - not machines
• Attending religious occasions including funerals and Sunday services
• Milking and feeding the cows for dairy cooperatives
• Grinding freshly picked coffee to drink using old techniques
• Helping with bricklaying for the women’s dairy cooperative (our charity’s project)
• Handing over a petrol electricity generator for their milk cooler, and handing over 200 plastic chairs for the children to sit on while eating - on behalf of the Charity Cwlwm Monduli
• Teaching geography and first aid and playing football with children from an English Medium School which the charity is looking to support in the future
• Meeting hundreds of African people from the village and other nearby villages
• Meeting the Maasai tribes who performed some dancing
• Getting introduced to the H.E.N. (|Horticultural and Environment) project which aims to teach Maasai tribes the benefits of growing and eating vegetables
• Touring some of the Tanzanian hospitals

At the end of the month long trip a group report was presented to the charity Cwlwm Monduli to inform their decisions on how to spend the money we raised for them.

Most people have an impression about poverty in Africa that gives them a very sad picture of African life. I see things differently, especially in terms of Tanzania. Although technology is not as advanced as in the UK and household incomes are a lot less, the happiness of families and individuals is not affected by this. Visiting Tanzania highlighted to me how friendly and happy people in Africa are. Despite the lower quality of life compared to the UK they are very contented people.

In terms of my Disaster Management degree, it has given me endless ideas for my dissertation. I intend to explore the ingredients that build a strong community that will help it to respond effectively in a disaster.